The personal essence is the prototype of the maturation of the soul from being a formless and unstructured individual conscious presence to being an autonomous person with unique development, capacities for original functioning, and the ability for personal contact and communication. It is the prototype of the individuated soul, the true meaning of personhood. Thus the personal essence is the prototype of the self-organized, cohesive, and individuated functioning that we see in living organisms. It gives the mature soul the sense that she is the source of her actions, and that her actions are truly hers, original to her, even though the soul recognizes that she is an inseparable cell in the oneness of Being. This is the essential counterpart to the ego sense of being the agent and center of one’s action. – The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality, Ch. 23